Tales of Valor, Part 1

"Welcome back."

"Welcome, Lady Hannelore. We are truly grateful for Dunkelfelger's cooperation."

When the swaying vision settled, the scene before me was the same as when we had departed—the knights' training ground at the castle. Charlotte and Florentia stood side by side to greet us, but they had brought only the bare minimum of attendants. I assumed Melchior was still at the Temple, but the absence of both Wilfried and my father was conspicuous. The unusual arrangement set my heart racing.

"Father-in-law, I don't see Wilfried, Melchior, or my father anywhere..."

"The battle at Gerlach ended a bit before ours, but we only just finished as well. Karstedt, as Knight Commander, is at the knights' headquarters. Wilfried is helping out there. Melchior hasn't returned from the Temple yet. No one suffered any serious injuries. The cleanup simply isn't finished yet. Rest easy."

We had dumped all the aftermath at Ahrensbach on the knights and Gerlach's nobles, but in Ehrenfest there was no one to dump it on. My adoptive father, as Aub, bore the highest responsibility, and the lord's family was clearly swamped with post-battle duties. My father, as Knight Commander, couldn't very well skip the victory banquet, so he was being run ragged.

"How were the lower city and the Temple? Were there any major casualties?"

"No reports of significant damage have come in so far. ...Don't make that worried face. Apparently the gate soldiers and the knights stationed at the Temple performed admirably. Why don't you speak with the attendants who were on the scene?"

Told that he needed to speak with the Dunkelfelger delegation, I quietly withdrew. My adoptive mother and Charlotte stepped up beside my adoptive father, and they exchanged lengthy, flowery greetings with Hannelore, invoking the names of the gods, before expressing gratitude for the cooperation.

"...Without the cooperation of Dunkelfelger's knights, holding the cornerstone would have been extremely difficult. The reinforcements from Gerlach were a tremendous comfort."

My adoptive father recounted how Hannelore's use of Volahrenil during the Lanzeneve subjugation at Ahrensbach and Ferdinand's methods for dealing with the poison had proved useful in Ehrenfest's defense. Apparently Georgine's group had launched Volahrenil at the gates. Knights had been stationed at each gate, so things hadn't escalated too badly, though some soldiers had been injured.

...I was glad to hear that Clarissa and Hartmut's letters had been useful.

"If we let this moment pass, it will be difficult to properly repay Dunkelfelger's knights for their cooperation. We are deeply grateful that you accepted our sudden invitation. After the sixth bell, we will hold a victory banquet in the small reception hall. It will be modest, but we hope you will enjoy tonight's celebration and accept Ehrenfest's gratitude."

When my adoptive father finished his greetings and thanks to Hannelore and Heisshitze, he turned to Florentia and Charlotte.

"Florentia, Charlotte. Please escort the Dunkelfelger guests to their rooms... Preparations for cleansing are also ready. Please rest easy until the sixth bell."

"How kind. We were hoping to cleanse ourselves before the banquet."

Hannelore smiled shyly. After returning her smile, my adoptive father turned his gaze to Ferdinand.

"Ferdinand, I've had a room prepared for you as well."

"...A room? Ah, yes."

Ferdinand wore a momentarily puzzled expression, then glanced at me. Even if someone told him "welcome back," Ferdinand had already ceded his home to me. He must have remembered that he no longer had a house of his own. Here I was, wanting to bring Ferdinand back to Ehrenfest, yet I had taken his space. This wouldn't do.

"Ferdinand, please use the Library."

"No, that's..."

"I'll be using my room in the castle, so please don't hold back. I'll leave the room exactly as it is. You'd feel more at ease in a familiar place, wouldn't you? If you need medicine, feel free to use the workshop and materials as you like. And if possible, please let Razefam see that you're safe."

When I offered Ferdinand the use of the Library room, Hannelore looked puzzled.

"Lady Rozemyne, does Ferdinand have a room in your Library?"

"Yes. My Library was originally Ferdinand's mansion. When I was set to go to Ahrensbach, I inherited it and converted it into a Library."

It has so many books, I told Hannelore, boasting about My Library. Most of them are Ferdinand's, but who cares.

"Lady Hannelore. When I was dispatched to Ahrensbach by royal command, I naturally had neither wife nor children. When considering whom to bequeath the mansion my father had passed down to, it was only fitting to leave it to my guardianship charge, Rozemyne. ...Honestly, I didn't expect the room to still be there."

His voice carried a faint tone of exasperation, and I turned my face away with a sniff.

"Didn't I say I'd keep the room so you could come home whenever you wished, without any hesitation?"

"I never expected such a casual promise to be kept indefinitely. Knowing you, I assumed the books would have overrun it by now."

"I don't have enough books to overrun it yet. I'm working hard on printing, though..."

I wanted enough books to overflow from that Library. As I contemplated enriching my Library, Ferdinand let out a soft breath.

"If my room still exists, I would be more comfortable there. But will you truly be fine with me using it?"

"Of course. I have my own room in the castle as well. I'll send an Ordnung to Razefam to have them prepare a welcome. After that, I'll go check on the lower city and the Temple."

As I planned out the rest of the schedule—seeing the lower city and the Temple, returning to the castle to prepare—Ferdinand warned me to "wait."

"You're going to abandon the guests you personally brought here? There doesn't seem to have been major damage to the lower city or the Temple, so today just listen to your attendants' reports. Leave the tour for tomorrow morning. There isn't much time before the banquet starts at the sixth bell."

When I considered bathing, changing clothes, and listening to the attendants' reports, I had to admit there wasn't much time. I sent an Ordnung to Razefam, asking them to prepare for the reception of Ferdinand, Brother Eckhart, and Justus. A reply came back immediately. Through Lieseleta and the others, they had heard that Ferdinand was safe and would be returning for the banquet, so preparations were already underway.

"How capable, Razefam is."

"I trained them. Naturally."

He gave a smug little snort, so I countered with, "Lieseleta and the others are capable too, you know."

"...Um, Aub Ehrenfest. Are they always like this?"

Hannelore and Heisshitze wore expressions of stunned disbelief. My adoptive father, letting his gaze wander slightly as he searched for the right answer, murmured quietly, "...About, yes."

"Welcome home, Lady Rozemyne. We're so glad you're safe."

Ottlie, Lieseleta, and Gratia greeted me. Lieseleta and Gratia had received Charlotte's notice of my return and had come back from the Library to prepare. It wasn't only the invitees who were bewildered by the sudden invitation—the attendants who had to ready everything were having a frantic time of it too.

"Brunhilde is running herself ragged preparing the Dunkelfelger guest rooms, and Bertilde has been drafted to help over there. I'll be heading there myself shortly."

Ottlie greeted everyone who had returned, then her eyes softened slightly at the sight of her son Hartmut and his fiancée Clarissa before she slipped out of the room early. She had held out here specifically because she desperately wanted to confirm everyone was safe.

"Lady Rozemyne will be bathing now, so perhaps the knights should take turns returning to the dormitory? If you're attending the banquet, you'll need to change, won't you?"

At Lieseleta's words, the knights nodded and began sorting out a rotation. Watching from the corner of my eye, I headed to the bath with Gratia. She carefully removed my hair ornament and began undoing my bound hair.

"I've contacted the Temple as well, so by the time Lady Rozemyne finishes her bath, Judith and the others should have returned."

"...Gratia. What was the fighting like here? Was anyone injured?"

"We were in the Library, and thanks to the magical tools Lady Rozemyne left to protect it, we didn't feel any particular signs of battle."

Ordnungs flew in from the lower city and the Temple, so they knew when the fighting started and ended, but the Library itself had been completely unscathed.

"We didn't feel any signs of battle, but Damuel brought the Gutenbergs and their families—the ones carrying Lady Rozemyne's protective charms—to the Library in the morning. We were startled when so many commoners showed up all at once."

Damuel had sensed Georgine's approach before she arrived and moved the Gutenbergs to the Library, the safest place with Lady Rozemyne's protective magical tools.

"...Damuel protected everyone, just as he promised."

"Yes. What struck me was the hair ornament craftsman's family entrusting their own charm to Damuel to give to their father. They said their father was being protected by Lady Rozemyne's charm and by Damuel, so they had to do what they could—and they started making hair ornaments and clothing."

By the time Gratia finished undoing my hair and started removing my riding beast outfit, Lieseleta had arrived as well.

"Oh, about today's events? Several tailors from the Gilberta Company had evacuated to the Library. They had brought in Lady Rozemyne's clothing and hair ornaments as priority items to protect. They were working away, wondering what Lady Rozemyne's schedule would be since they needed to do fittings. We should contact them."

I could vividly see Turi and Corina working desperately. They had been keeping their hands busy because they'd worry otherwise, and of course there were the practical realities of approaching deadlines. But my Gutenbergs evacuating to the Noble District Library and working away—that struck me as an unexpectedly peaceful scene.

"The Plantane Company people were enthusiastically touring the mansion's interior and the Library. They seemed to be looking at the dining area and places that could serve as book references. They said they were familiar with the new Ehrenfest books since they made and sold them themselves, but they'd never had a chance to look closely at older books."

When I finished bathing, Judith and Philine had returned. Both looked energetic. Since I wasn't finished changing, Loderich was waiting outside the room with the male knights.

"The Library seems to have been safe, but was the Temple turned into a battlefield?"

At my question, Philine nodded with a grim expression. Then she continued, "Um, but, all the orphans are safe. Around the third bell, an Ordnung came from Damuel, and we evacuated them just as we'd trained." Around the same time the Ordnung flew to the Library and the Gutenbergs were evacuated, the orphans at the Temple were being evacuated too. Judith, who had been guiding the orphans alongside the Temple's priests and coordinating with Melchior's attendants, also nodded.

"We replaced the Temple gate guard from gray priests to knights and stationed Schumil magical tools as sentries. Before long, Damuel sent word that enemies had appeared at the West Gate."

...Wow, Damuel really went above and beyond.

Damuel had been guarding the lower city, so he was closest to the enemy intelligence, but even so, hearing his name at both the Library and the Temple, you couldn't help but feel his tireless efforts.

"I was on my riding beast, looking down over the lower city. I heard shouting from the direction of the West Gate, and I could see commoners who had been told to evacuate but had gone outside instead, fleeing in panic. That's when I realized the battle had truly begun."

She could see the knights stationed at each gate in the lower city moving toward the West Gate, and Judith thought she would have liked to join them if she could. But her assignment was to protect the Temple. She had stared fixedly at the chaotic West Gate.

"While I was watching the lower city, I noticed a cart moving strangely."

Damuel had sent the alert Ordnung around the third bell, and the West Gate had started getting noisy before the fourth bell. By the time the commotion began at the West Gate, there was very little foot traffic. Farmers who had brought vegetables by cart had either quickly left through the gate back to their villages or headed toward the shelters to the south.

"As the fourth bell drew near, the north side of the city was nothing but shops with their doors shut. And there was a cart heading toward the north side of the city at that hour."

What caught Judith's eye—she had been leaning forward, straining to see the West Gate—was a cart weaving its way through the alleys.

"It stopped in the shadow of an alley and vanished from sight, but a short time later I spotted several figures approaching the North Gate. They weren't wearing silver robes, but I worried the West Gate might be a feint, so I sent an Ordnung to the knights guarding the Noble District."

Judith said this with a proud look. Her instincts proved correct—the figures, upon being challenged, immediately summoned riding beasts and assumed combat stances.

"But that was a feint too. Ordnungs flew back and forth reporting battles breaking out everywhere, and then the Temple's back gate was forced open."

A passage barely wide enough for a person had been blown open, and multiple magical tools—including petrifying poison mist and flash bombs—were scattered about as the enemy poured in.

"Since Lady Rozemyne left for Ahrensbach, letters from Hartmut and Clarissa had arrived over those two days telling us how to respond. We immediately administered Waschen and drank Jureve, so the knights' lives were saved."

However, because they had to drink Jureve, combat fell to the Schumils. Judith, who had been patrolling above the Temple gate, had been poisoned as well. The knights immediately activated the Schumil emergency protocol.

"The Schumils were truly formidable. Of the five enemies who entered, one was wrapped head to toe in tight silver cloth and the Schumils couldn't detect them, so they got into the Temple. But the other four were all defeated by the pink Schumils and the large light-blue Schumils that rushed in from the carriage gate."

The Schumils' attacks were nothing short of lightning-fast.

"The speed at which they cut down enemy after enemy with their golden-glowing magical scythes was incredible. Since it's a race against Magic Power depletion, they certainly needed to finish quickly, but they truly cut the enemies down in the blink of an eye. They were so splattered with blood that I had them Waschen-cleaned."

"Th-thank you very much, Judith."

Judith said this with a proud smile, but I dreaded imagining the Schumils stained red with blood.

"I informed Lord Melchior that one person in silver robes had headed alone toward the Temple. I only heard the report afterward, but apparently that one person was Lady Georgine. She fell into several traps and was ultimately teleported to the White Tower."

Judith hadn't been present at the Library. She said the detailed account should come from Melchior and his attendants.

"Come to think of it, among those defeated by the Schumils was Grausam—Matthias's father."

"Eh? Grausam?"

"Whether to report this to Matthias or not, I leave to Lady Rozemyne's judgment."

...Wasn't Grausam someone we defeated at Gerlach?

I tilted my head in confusion, then suddenly remembered. Matthias had mentioned something about "three body doubles."

...Body doubles? Which one was the real one?

*** Arrival in Ehrenfest.

Ferdinand finds a moment's rest in Rozemyne's Library.

And now, the battle at Ehrenfest as seen from the Library standby group and the Temple group.

Rozemyne's mind is swimming with question marks after hearing about Grausam Part 2.

Next time, Part 2.